Methods for serving interactive content to a user

Abstract

One variation of a method for serving interactive content to a user includes, at a visual element inserted into a document accessed by a computing device: loading a first frame from a digital video; in response to a scroll-down event that moves the visual element upward from a bottom of a window rendered on the computing device toward a top of the window, seeking from the first frame through a subset of frames in the digital video in a first direction at a rate corresponding to a scroll rate of the scroll-down event, the subset of frames spanning a duration of the digital video corresponding to a length of the scroll-down event; and, in response to termination of the scroll-down event with the visual element remaining in view within the window, playing the digital video forward from a last frame in the subset of frames in the digital video.

We claim: 
     
       1. A method for serving interactive advertising content to a user, the method comprising:
 loading a static image comprising advertising content into an image player inserted into an electronic document distinct from advertising content within the image player and rendered within a window by a mobile computing device associated with the user, the image player defining a first height less than a second height of the window; 
 at the image player:
 in response to a first scroll event, entered by the user at the mobile computing device, that moves the image player from an initial position outside the window to a first vertical position within the window, the first vertical position within a first vertical position range:
 locating a crop area over a first region of the static image; and 
 rendering the first region of the static image, bounded by the crop area, within the image player; and 
 
 in response to a second scroll event, entered by the user, that relocates the image player from the first vertical position to a second vertical position within the window, the second vertical position within a second vertical position range outside the first vertical position range:
 translating the crop area over a sequence of regions of the static image at a first rate proportional to a scroll rate of the second scroll event, the sequence of regions of the static image corresponding to a sequence of vertical position ranges of the image player within the window; and 
 rendering regions of the static image, bounded by the crop area, within the image player during the second scroll event; and 
 
 
 calculating an engagement score for the user interacting with the image player based on characteristics of the first scroll event and the second scroll event occurring at the mobile computing device while the image player is rendered within the window. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 accessing the height of the window; 
 accessing the height of the image player; 
 accessing a height of the static image; and 
 assigning a vertical position range within the height of the window to a unique region of the static image correspondingto a unique section of the static image, a height of the unique section corresponding to the height of the image player and less than the height of the static image. 
 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 :
 further comprising maintaining the first region of the static image within the image player visual element over the first vertical position range of the image player within the window during the second scroll event; and 
 wherein rendering regions of the static image bounded by the crop area comprises rendering a second region of the static image within the image player visual element in response to relocation of the image player from within the first vertical position range to the second vertical position within the second vertical position range within the window during the second scroll event. 
 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , wherein calculating an engagement score for the user with the image player comprises calculating an engagement score for the user based on a number of scroll events by the user recorded while the image player is rendered within the window. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , wherein rendering regions of the static image bounded by the crop area comprises:
 in response to a scroll-down event that relocates the image player upward from the first vertical position to the second vertical position within the window, inserting a second region of the static image, in replacement of the first region, into the image player; and 
 in response to a scroll-up event that relocates the image player downward from the second vertical position to a third vertical position within the first vertical position range, inserting the first region, in replacement of the second region, into the image player. 
 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising, in response to a third scroll event, by the user, that relocates the image player to a third vertical position within the window:
 translating the crop area over a second sequence of regions of the static image at a second rate proportional to a scroll rate of the third scroll event, the second sequence of regions corresponding to a second sequence of vertical positions of the image player within the window; and 
 rendering regions of the static image bounded by the crop area within the image player during the third scroll event. 
 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 :
 wherein translating the crop area over the sequence of regions of the static image at the first rate proportional to the scroll rate of the second scroll event comprises translating the crop area from the first region to a second region in the static image at the first rate in response to the second scroll event that relocates the image player from the first vertical position to the second vertical position within the window; and 
 wherein rendering regions of the static image bounded by the crop area within the image player during the second scroll event comprises rendering regions of the static image, between the first region and the second region in the static image and bounded by the crop area, in the image player during the second scroll event. 
 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 7 :
 wherein loading the static image comprises loading the static image comprising the first region and the second region, the first region comprising a first advertising frame, and the second region comprising a second advertising frame adjacent the first advertising frame in the static image; 
 wherein locating the crop area over the first region of the static image comprises locating the crop area over the first advertising frame in the static image; and 
 wherein translating the crop area from the first region to the second region in the static image comprises translating the crop area from the first advertising frame to the second advertising frame in the static image in response to the second scroll event that relocates the image player from the first vertical position to the second vertical position within the window. 
 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 1 :
 wherein rendering the first region of the static image comprises inserting the first region of the static image corresponding to the first vertical position range of the image player rendered proximal a bottom of the window; 
 wherein translating the crop area over the sequence of regions of the static image comprises:
 indexing the crop area over an intermediate region of the static image corresponding to an intermediate vertical position range of the image player above the first vertical position range within the window; 
 indexing the crop area over a last region of the static image corresponding to the second vertical position range of the image player above the intermediate vertical position range within the window; and 
 
 wherein rendering regions of the static image, bounded by the crop area, in the image player during the second scroll event, comprises:
 in response to the second scroll event, entered by the user, that relocates the image player from the first vertical position to the intermediate position within the window, displaying the intermediate region of the static image in the image player; and 
 in response to the second scroll event, entered by the user, that relocates the image player from the intermediate position to the second vertical position within the window, displaying the second region of the static image in the image player. 
 
 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 1 :
 further comprising, at the image player, in response to a third scroll event, entered by the user, that relocates the image player from the second vertical position to the first vertical position:
 translating the crop area over the sequence of regions of the static image at a third rate proportional to a scroll rate of the third scroll event; and 
 rendering regions of the static image, bounded by the crop area, in the image player during the third scroll event; and 
 
 wherein calculating the engagement score for the user interacting with the image player comprises calculating the engagement score for the user interacting with the image player based on characteristics of the first scroll event, the second scroll event, and the third scroll event, occurring at the mobile computing device while the image player is rendered within the window. 
 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 1 , wherein calculating the engagement score comprises calculating the engagement score for the user interacting with the image player based on characteristics of scroll events occurring at the mobile computing device while the image player is rendered within the window, in response to a last scroll event that moves the image player to a last position outside the window. 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 1 , wherein translating the crop area over the sequence of regions of the static image at the first rate proportional to the scroll rate of the second scroll event comprises tra nslating the crop area over the sequence of regions of the static image at the first rate equal to the scroll rate of the second scroll event. 
     
     
       13. A method for serving interactive content to a user, the method comprising:
 loading a static image comprising advertising content into an image player inserted into an electronic document distinct from advertising content within the image player and rendered within a window by a mobile computing device associated with the user, the image player defining a first height less than a second height of the window; and 
 at the image player:
 in response to a scroll event, entered by the user at the mobile computing device, that moves the image player from an initial position outside the window to a first vertical position within the window:
 locating a crop area over a first region of the static image; and 
 rendering the first region of the static image, bounded by the crop area, within the image player during the scroll event; and 
 
 in response to the scroll event relocating the image player to a second vertical position within the window, the second vertical position above the first vertical position:
 translating the crop area over a sequence of regions of the static image at a rate proportional to a scroll rate of the scroll event, the sequence of regions of the static image corresponding to a sequence of vertical positions of the image player within the window; and 
 rendering regions of the static image, bounded by the crop area, in the image player during the scroll event; and 
 
 
 calculating an engagement score for the user interacting with the image player based on characteristics of scroll events occurring at the mobile computing device while the image player is rendered within the window. 
 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 13 , wherein calculating the engagement score comprises calculating the engagement score for the user interacting with the image player based on a number of scroll direction changes while the image player is rendered within the window. 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 13 , wherein translating the crop area over the sequence of regions of the static image at the rate proportional to the scroll rate of the scroll event comprises translating the crop area over the sequence of regions of the static image at the rate equal to the scroll rate of the scroll event. 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 13 :
 wherein rendering regions of the static image bounded by the crop area comprises, in response to the scroll event relocating the image player to the second vertical position above the first vertical position, rendering a second region of the static image within the crop area within the image player; and 
 further comprising, in response to a second scroll event relocating the image player from the second vertical position to the first vertical position within the window, rendering the first region of the static image within the crop area within the image player. 
 
     
     
       17. The method of  claim 13 :
 further comprising:
 compiling a set of frames comprising digital advertising content into the static image, each frame in the set of frames forming a discrete region in a set of discrete regions in the static image; and 
 assigning a discrete range of vertical positions of the image player within the window to each discrete region in the set of discrete regions in the static image; and 
 
 wherein rendering the first region of the static image within the crop area within the image player comprises rendering the first region of the static image file in the image player in response to the image player moving into a first range of vertical positions within the window during the scroll event, the first region of the static image depicting a first frame in the set of frames, the first range of vertical positions assigned to the first discrete region; and 
 wherein rendering regions of the static image file in the image player comprises rendering a second region, in the static image, in the image player in replacement of the first region in response to entry of the image player into a second range of vertical positions in the window responsive to the scroll event, the second range of vertical positions distinct from the first range of vertical positions and assigned to the second region. 
 
     
     
       18. A method for serving interactive content to a user, the method comprising:
 loading a static image comprising advertising content into an image player inserted into an electronic document distinct from advertising content within the image player and rendered within a window by a mobile computing device associated with the user, the image player defining a first height less than a second height of the window; 
 at the image player:
 in response to a scroll event, entered by the user at the mobile computing device, that moves the image player from an initial position outside the window to a first vertical position within the window:
 locating a crop area over a first region of the static image; and 
 rendering the first region of the static image, bounded by the crop area, in the image player; and 
 
 in response to the scroll event relocating the image player from the first position to a second vertical position within the window:
 translating the crop area, from the first region, over a sequence of regions of the static image at a rate proportional to a scroll rate of the scroll event, the sequence of regions of the static image corresponding to a sequence of vertical positions of the image player within the window; and 
 rendering regions of the static image, bounded by the crop area, in the image player during the scroll event; and 
 
 
 calculating an engagement score for the user interacting with the image player based on characteristics of scroll events occurring at the mobile computing device while the image player is rendered within the window. 
 
     
     
       19. The method of  claim 18 :
 further comprising:
 compiling a set of frames comprising advertising content into the static image, each frame in the set of frames forming a discrete region in a set of discrete regions in the static image; and 
 assigning a discrete range of vertical positions of the image player within the window to each discrete region in the set of discrete regions in the static image; and 
 
 wherein rendering the first region of the static image within the crop area within the image player comprises rendering the first region of the static image file in the image player in response to the image player moving into a first range of vertical positions within the window during the scroll event, the first region of the static image depicting a first frame in the set of frames, the first range of vertical positions assigned to the first region; and 
 wherein rendering regions of the static image file in the image player comprises rendering a second region, in the static image, in the image player in replacement of the first region in response to entry of the image player into a second range of vertical positions in the window responsive to the scroll event, the second region of the static image depicting a second frame in the set of frames, the second range of vertical positions distinct from the first range of vertical positions and assigned to the second region. 
 
     
     
       20. The method of  claim 19 :
 further comprising, in response to a second scroll event, entered by the user at the mobile computing device, that moves the image player from the second range of vertical positions to the first range of vertical positions:
 translating the crop area, from the second region of the static image depicting the second frame to the first region of the static image depicting the first frame, at a second rate proportional to a second scroll rate of the second scroll event; and 
 rendering the first region of the static image depicting the first frame in the image player in replacement of the second region of the static image depicting the second frame responsive to the second scroll event; and 
 
 wherein calculating the engagement score based on characteristics of scroll events comprises calculating the engagement score for the user, interacting with the image player, based on characteristics of the scroll event and the second scroll event.